This was how happy Cam Newton was the last time his Carolina Panthers played the Seahawks, in a divisional-playoff win in Charlotte, N.C., on Jan. 17. The star quarterback and 2015 NFL MVP is struggling entering Sunday night’s rematch at CenturyLink Field. David T. Foster IIITNS

This was how happy Cam Newton was the last time his Carolina Panthers played the Seahawks, in a divisional-playoff win in Charlotte, N.C., on Jan. 17. The star quarterback and 2015 NFL MVP is struggling entering Sunday night’s rematch at CenturyLink Field. David T. Foster IIITNS

Game day vs. Carolina: Different Seahawks will zero in on Newton, try to get Rawls going

Game day in Seattle was actually sunny Sunday morning. The forecast for the 5:25 p.m. kickoff at CenturyLink Field is just a 15-percent chance of rain with temperatures dropping into the upper 30s -- colder than for any other Seahawks home game this season.

The Seahawks made an expected roster move on Saturday. They activated starting strongside linebacker Mike Morgan off the injured-reserve list as their one designee to return this season. They put linebacker Jordan Tripp on injured reserve, ending his season one week after he made his first career start, at Tampa Bay, then injured his thigh.

The series: This is the sixth meeting in four-plus years, including two playoff games. The Panthers took a stunning, 31-0 lead in the first half in January in the divisional playoffs in Charlotte and ended Seattle’s 2015 season with a 31-24 win. That was on Carolina’s way to Super Bowl 50. The Panthers won in Seattle last October with a late touchdown while confusing the Seahawks’ secondary on the winning pass. Before that, the Seahawks had won the previous five meetings back through 2010. The Seahawks lead the all-time regular-season series 5-3.

Line: Seahawks by 7.

SEATTLE’S KEYS

It’s all about No. 1: As in, the jersey number for Carolina quarterback Cam Newton. He’s on pace for career lows in completion percentage and passer rating for a season. He’s already been sacked almost as many times as all of last season, behind a decimated offensive line that has only one man still standing in the same spot where he started the season. Yet Newton remains the most dangerously multi-dimensional quarterback Seattle will face this season. This is likely the last 2016 stand for the 2015 NFL MVP. He’s going to be trying to win the game largely by himself. The Seahawks have mostly been ready for that in the past; they are 4-2 against him.

Get Rawls going: The coaches keep saying this is like the third preseason game for Thomas Rawls because of the two months he missed with a cracked fibula. But now it’s December. Time for real performances, and a real return to the running game. Carolina is first in the league in yards allowed per carry, but will be missing All-Pro middle linebacker Luke Kuechly and starting safety Kurt Coleman up the middle. Both are out with concussions. The numbers say Seattle should pass; Carolina is 29th in pass defense with two rookies starting at cornerback. But the Seahawks need to show not only an ability but a willingness to stick with running plays throughout drives and quarters. Their excuse has been Rawls has been too banged up to completely rely upon. Now is the month for fewer excuses and more results for the league’s 27th-ranked rushing offense.

Find some continuity up front: This is no time to be making lineup switches for performance, but that’s what the Seahawks are doing benching Garry Gilliam after 11 starts and putting Bradley Sowell at right tackle. Justin Britt’s return to center after missing last weekend’s dud at Tampa Bay will help re-establish the line’s continuity and chemistry. At least it better. Seattle has no other moves to make on its O-line.

The pick: This is a different team than the one that face-planted at Tampa Bay last weekend, because of the return of five starters from injury. The night will show it’s a better team than that one, too. Seahawks 21, Panthers 13.

About the Seahawks Insider Blog

Gregg Bell joined The News Tribune in July 2014. Bell had been
the director of writing for the University of Washington's athletic
department for four years. He was the senior national sports writer in
Seattle for The Associated Press from 2005-10, covering the Seahawks in
their first Super Bowl season and beyond. He's also been The Sacramento
Bee's beat writer on the Oakland Athletics and Raiders. The native of
Steubenville, Ohio, is a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at
West Point, N.Y., and a 2000 graduate of the University of California,
Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.